Re: [udig-devel] using uDig to view oblique photos

[Jody Garnett <jody.garnett@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rueben - it is great to hear from you again!

On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Rueben
Schulz<rschulz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hello.
>
> I am currently evaluating a few (mostly java) open source GISs for use in an
> upcoming project I am working on  (unfortunately proprietary). The project
> involves displaying oblique photos and is based on an existing extension I
> wrote  for ArcMap. The existing application allows a user to choose an area
> on a map, and oblique photos that cover that area are  displayed in separate
> windows (one for each cardinal direction). The windows showing oblique
> photos are synchronized, so zooming or panning in one window updates the
> extent of the other windows. This allows a user to see, for example, an
> oblique view of all 4 sides of a house.

Interesting. The viewport model in udig is completely under your
control; you could either listen to it changing (in response to zoom
tools etc..) or change it in response to your
your own tools on your two photo viewers.

There is a MapViewer widget that can be used to add a uDig map to your
own RCP app; or you can use the MapEditor as is.

> I spent some time last week going over the uDig tutorials and reading email
> list postings. Udig looks to be quite suitable for what I am doing, since it
> was designed to be used as a base for this type of application.
>
> However, I do have a few questions:
>
> 1) What is the ETA on 1.2.0 (I know the exact date is subject to resource
> availability). I assume 1.2 is the best code  base to work off of right now.

We are expecting an alpha in a three weeks time; in response to a
dependency audit being performed now (note this is a surprise to the
email list who is still working on an SDK for the 1.2-M6). I would
like to have a beta out for the foss4g conference in October; or a
release depending on how QA goes. The uDig 1.2 series has been used
for numerous commercial applications; but we have been hard pressed to
fund development of the uDig example app for download - indeed it is
only thanks to an amazing code sprint organized by Jesse and Andrea
that we are in such a good position right now.

> 2) What would a rough architecture for my use case be? Based on my
> (incomplete) understanding of eclipse I think I need:
>    - A tool to choose areas of interest on the map (to display oblique
> photos for) as described in the plugin tutorial. This tool will communicate
> with the views where photos are displayed.

That sounds fine; you could also ignore the tools and just listen to
the ViewportModel directly and update your photos as the viewport
model is changed.

>    - One or more views to display the oblique photos (jpg/tif). I think
> this can use the same renderer that the uDig map uses, and pan/zoom tools
> can be placed at the top of the view. Ideally road data can be overlayed
> onto these photos (if I implement the proper transform in geotools)

You may be able to go with a more simple view then what uDig uses;
since you are wise to the ways of the geotools renderer you may
find it easier to set up things for a single image.

>    - A default perspective to arrange everything.

The custom application tutorial covers this one; and yes that is a good one.

> 3) What is the best way to deploy a plugin? Should I make a custom app with
> everything bundled (including a JRE), or can the plugin be bundled
> separately and added to a default uDig version (treating uDig as a GIS
> application)? Or can both approaches be taken?

Both approaches can be taken; including an "update site" which you can
instruct people to
install your plugin into uDig from. Users really like a small custom
application that *just*
focuses on the task at hand with no extra stuff - so i would recommend that.

> Thank you for any pointers.

Cheers,
Jody